


Chained

by hovercraft



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chains, M/M, Takes place in Shimousa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:17:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22090120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hovercraft/pseuds/hovercraft
Summary: Arthur loses his cool on the battlefield. Someone's there to help him snap out of it.
Relationships: Gilgamesh | Archer/Arthur Pendragon | Saber
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	Chained

**Author's Note:**

> Very short fic, it was a request for a friend who wanted to see Arthur lose it on the battlefield. Sorry for my absence during December, hope to update a lot more in January!

The flames that licked at the building’s exterior threatened signs of collapse, and though a heroic spirit could endure all kinds of pain, all kinds of damage, the fire was too intense now to go back and gather any more people. Arthur had gathered all that he could, he’d even threatened to charge back in again—the cries of those inside who were fated to die were ringing in his ears. Gilgamesh was the only thing holding him back from going back in.

“Don’t be an idiot,” His grip seemed gentle at first but betrayed how firm it was when Arthur tested its resistance. “Our master needs us.”

“There’s no reason…” Arthur murmured, voice hoarse from the smoke and harsh with emotion. “There’s no reason to let people _die_ like this!”

“Our master could be one of them. We need to find her, _now_.”

The two were forced to turn their back on the building and find the source of it all, bodies littered left and right within this small village. Arthur could scarcely turn his head away from the carnage, even as Gilgamesh grabbed his wrist and pulled him along. Children should be spared this kind of horror, yet, just because this was a singularity, rogue heroic spirits were _having fun_ setting fire to the town to the tune of their master’s orders. To Arthur, who would disobey anything like this, it was a betrayal of all the values these people stood for. If they ever showed their faces in Chaldea, he wouldn’t look them in the eye without anger.

“There she is…”

The motherly woman who Arthur knew as Raikou was only a shell of her former self, taken in by some strange magic infecting her mind. Shuten Douji had fought by her side, but now she stood alone. Arthur didn’t wait to draw his sword, even if Gilgamesh shouted after him. This woman was a legend with a blade, and yet he didn’t hesitate to cross swords with her, even as she deflected his blow with scarcely a twitch of her wrist.

“Ahh, ahh, you’re mad about how I followed my master’s orders, are you?”

“Thousands of people are dead! You didn’t even spare children…!”

“That’s what I was told to do,” Even though the faintest sadness was present on her face, it was accompanied by a smug smirk. “It would be a shame if a heroic spirit didn’t have their master’s best interests in mind, don’t you think?”

“If the real Raikou is in there at all—” Blades clashed over and over again, steel threatening to break steel with each glancing blow. “—She’d want to die after knowing what she did!”

“Who says she isn’t?”

The tables turned on him immediately, now having to deflect every blow she sent against him, the raw sounds of metal clashing filling the area. “Don’t you have a burning building to go heroically die in? Don’t you have something you should be doing right now?”

“WHERE’S OUR MASTER?”

By now, Gilgamesh had begun controlling the Gates of Babylon to keep Raikou on her toes, but she was able to deflect so much that her blade was scarcely more than a flicker in the night, a bright light that between Excalibur and Gilgamesh, was able to parry anything thrown at her. She wasn’t just a Heroic Spirit, she was a legend, the same as them, and to be so easily defeated wasn’t in her dictionary.

“I suppose Shuten is almost done with her,” She mused without so much as taking a breath. “Aren’t you glad? You’ll be free of your contract with her. On to better things…”

“You won’t lay a _hand_ on her,” Arthur threatened, but Raikou pressed forward, backing the two men up.

“I won’t need to.”

A golden glow started to wrap around Excalibur, Gilgamesh glancing at Arthur and wondering what he was trying to pull—unleashing his noble phantasm here? That level of destruction, here of all places—

“Arthur, you cannot—”

“I can’t let this woman do this again! Not to more people! It doesn’t matter if it’s just a pseudo-singularity, I—”

With a strike of her sword, Raikou knocked him back, leaving a long gash in his armor. Gilgamesh had to act fast. Quick thinking gave him an advantage over Raikou, a sword to her leg was all it took to knock her back down for a moment, before she pulled it out with the most sickening noise. Arthur took advantage of her momentary weakness to drive his glowing blade down onto her collar bone, piercing her through the chest. Though she gave a pitiful gasp, Arthur was far from done. He withdrew his blade, despite her clearly starting to dematerialize, and aimed for a second kill. Fury was rushing through his body, thinking of all those people who had to die because she simply obeyed orders, because she could be taken control of so _easily_ —

Chains started to wrap around Arthur’s wrists, his chest, his entire body. Arthur felt his body constrict as the other man came to his side and put his hands on either of cheeks.

“You need to snap out of it!” Gilgamesh ordered, staring him in the eyes. “She’s done! You killed her! We need to focus on finding our master!”

“Every heroic spirit…” Arthur gasped, fury still radiating from his core. “Has the ability to choose.”

“You don’t know that!” Gilgamesh bit back. “You don’t know that for sure! She could be controlled by something stronger than a command spell for all we know!”

“I don’t—care--…” Even as Gilgamesh tried to calm him down, Arthur felt his body try to resist the chains. “Women and children alike, she ki—”

“Snap out of it!” Gilgamesh put his forehead against his in hopes that proximity would calm him down. “I won’t let you lose control like this. Usually, _you’re_ the one going after _me_.”

Slowly but steadily, Arthur regained his breath and calmed down. Relaxed, slowly, as he watched Raikou dematerialize behind Gilgamesh. The pain of losing so many people was too raw, too real, but Gilgamesh was slowly grounding him. Their master—that’s right, their master would be in danger—

“Let’s go.”

Gilgamesh studied his face carefully before letting the chains disappear. Arthur slacked for just a moment before studying the other man’s face. In a better moment, he might kiss him, but the anger is too fresh and the desire to see his master safe is too strong.

The two took off into the night, the red moon above glaring down on them, promising what was to come.


End file.
